Tuesday, 1 February 2022
Pauṣa · Amāvāsyā · Śravaṇa
☀About the day
- Lunar month
- Pauṣa
- Tithi at sunrise
- Amāvāsyā · until 11:16
- Nakṣatra
- Śravaṇa
- Sunrise · Sunset (Ujjain)
- 07:07 · 18:14
Maunī Amāvāsyā
✦Significance
The new moon of silence. In the month of Māgha, when the Sun and Moon stand together in Capricorn, a bath at the confluence of Gaṅgā, Yamunā and Sarasvatī at Prayāga is held to be the most purifying of the year, and keeping mauna — silence — turns the bath inward. It is the chief bathing day of the Māgha Melā and the Kumbha.
📜The story from the scriptures
Padma Purāṇa, Uttara-khaṇḍa — Māgha-māhātmya; Matsya Purāṇa 104–112 (Prayāga-māhātmya)
The sage Vasiṣṭha told King Dilīpa that no sacrifice, gift or austerity equals the pre-dawn bath of Māgha: “In Māgha the waters call aloud at sunrise — whom shall we purify?” The Matsya Purāṇa records Mārkaṇḍeya’s teaching to Yudhiṣṭhira that at Prayāga, the king of tīrthas, where Brahmā performed the first sacrifice, sixty thousand tīrthas gather in Māgha. Tradition holds that Manu, the first man and the first sage (muni), was born on this day, and that mauna, muni and Manu share one root: the mind made still.
🪔Regional traditions and folklore
At Prayāga the kalpavāsīs — who live the whole month on the sand in straw huts, bathing thrice and eating once — take their most sacred dip, and the akhāṛās of sādhus go in procession to the Saṅgama. Elsewhere people bathe in any river or at home with a little Gaṅgā water, and keep silence until the bath is done, or all day.
🔥Pūjā and havan
Bath before sunrise in silence; arghya to the Sun; tarpaṇa to the ancestors with sesame; gifts of sesame, blankets, warm clothes, grain and ghee; worship of Viṣṇu and recitation of the Gītā or the Viṣṇu-sahasranāma. Silence is broken with the name of God.
ॐMantras and japa 3
गङ्गे च यमुने चैव गोदावरि सरस्वति ।
नर्मदे सिन्धु कावेरि जलेऽस्मिन् सन्निधिं कुरु ॥
gaṅge ca yamune caiva godāvari sarasvati | narmade sindhu kāveri jale’smin sannidhiṃ kuru ||
Meaning: O Gaṅgā, Yamunā, Godāvarī, Sarasvatī, Narmadā, Sindhu and Kāverī — be present in this water.
Benefit: Recited over the bathing water — it brings the seven sacred rivers to wherever the bather stands.
ॐ नमो नारायणाय ॥
oṃ namo nārāyaṇāya ||
Meaning: Salutation to Nārāyaṇa, the refuge of all beings.
Benefit: The eight-syllable mantra — the Upaniṣad says one who recites it attains full life, prosperity and the abode of Viṣṇu.
ॐ भूर्भुवः स्वः ।
तत्सवितुर्वरेण्यं भर्गो देवस्य धीमहि ।
धियो यो नः प्रचोदयात् ॥
oṃ bhūr bhuvaḥ svaḥ | tat savitur vareṇyaṃ bhargo devasya dhīmahi | dhiyo yo naḥ pracodayāt ||
Meaning: We meditate on the adorable radiance of the divine Savitṛ; may he awaken our understanding.
Benefit: The mother of the Vedic mantras — recited at sunrise, noon and sunset for clarity of mind, inner light and the blessing of the Sun.
📖Scriptural references 2
- Padma Purāṇa, Uttara-khaṇḍa, Māgha-māhātmya
- Matsya Purāṇa 104–112
Bhaumavatī Amāvāsyā — on a Tuesday
✦Significance
The new moon, when Sun and Moon dwell together — the day that belongs to the ancestors. Offerings of water and sesame made today reach them directly, and their blessing is sought for the family’s welfare. A new moon on a Monday (Somavatī) is especially sacred for married women, who circle the pīpal tree 108 times; on a Saturday (Śanaiścarī) Śani is propitiated with sesame oil; on a Tuesday (Bhaumavatī) debts are said to be cleared by ancestral rites.
📜The story from the scriptures
Mahābhārata, Anuśāsana-parva 87–92; Matsya Purāṇa 14 (Acchodā and the Pitṛs)
The Matsya Purāṇa tells of Acchodā, mind-born daughter of the Pitṛs, who through a moment’s wavering fell from heaven. The Pitṛs, in compassion, told her that the day of her fall would be named Amāvasyā, dear to them above all days, and that whatever is offered to the ancestors on it would be imperishable. Bhīṣma teaches Yudhiṣṭhira that of all tithis the new moon is foremost for the śrāddha.
🔥Pūjā and havan
Tarpaṇa with water and black sesame facing south; feeding of crows, cows and the needy; a lamp of sesame oil under the pīpal at dusk; on Somavatī, circumambulation of the pīpal with thread, and a vow of silence at the bath.
ॐMantras and japa 2
ॐ भूर्भुवः स्वः ।
तत्सवितुर्वरेण्यं भर्गो देवस्य धीमहि ।
धियो यो नः प्रचोदयात् ॥
oṃ bhūr bhuvaḥ svaḥ | tat savitur vareṇyaṃ bhargo devasya dhīmahi | dhiyo yo naḥ pracodayāt ||
Meaning: We meditate on the adorable radiance of the divine Savitṛ; may he awaken our understanding.
Benefit: The mother of the Vedic mantras — recited at sunrise, noon and sunset for clarity of mind, inner light and the blessing of the Sun.
ॐ नमो भगवते वासुदेवाय ॥
oṃ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya ||
Meaning: Salutation to the blessed Lord Vāsudeva.
Benefit: The dvādaśākṣara — by this mantra the child Dhruva saw the Lord within six months; recited for devotion, protection and liberation.
📖Scriptural references 2
- Matsya Purāṇa 14
- Mahābhārata, Anuśāsana-parva 87–92